Nora and Jared #9
Nora sat through the whole damn date and the only vampire in Swirl was Laila who remained behind the bar. Craig was talking to her now, had been for over five minutes, and it was clear Laila was turning on her vampire charm out of spite by demonstrating that her allure was stronger than Nora’s.
It was stronger because Nora wasn’t trying. The date had already lasted an hour, and she was bored.
She grabbed her purse and stood. Closing time was two hours away, and as much as Nora would like to deal with Laila after the humans left, she didn’t want to spend that time with Craig nor did she want to spend it watching him flirt with the vampire.
She strolled out the door then took a deep breath of the cool air. She should have brought a coat. She drew too much attention in her dress, and she was in a mood to be left alone. She was tired of the looks, the thoughts, the desire in people’s eyes.
She stood on the curb and watched the passing cars. Normally she would call a packmate if she needed a ride, but she didn’t want the questions. No, what she really wanted was to shift and run. Run until her sides hurt and her wolf tired. She could make it out of the city, disappear into the foothills, then when she was exhausted, she could contact Blake. He wouldn’t ask questions. He’d sense that she didn’t want conversation.
She crossed the street. A thin line of trees and a creek ran behind the parking lot. She’d shift there. Her human possessions would vanish. She didn’t mind losing the dress, but she was tired of buying new phones and resyncing her info. It was tedious and annoying. Maybe she could hide it then—
“Have I wounded your pride, Snowflake?”
She held back a snarl as she spun toward Jared. He seemed to unfold from the dark. She didn’t smell him until she saw him.
“You must have a death wish,” she said.
“Oh?”
His scent mingled with the night air and invaded her lungs. “You didn’t sell Swirl, and you crept up on me.”
He clasped his hands behind his back and stepped closer. “I thought your senses superior than they apparently are. And I do not creep.”
She made a show of studying him. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to be funny or insulting.”
“Perhaps it is both.”
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Your date is preoccupied with Laila. I thought you might benefit from a ride home.”
A car turned into their lane when he finished his sentence, a shiny black Porsche sedan. It stopped beside them and Jared opened the back door.
Nora looked at the leather interior, then at him, then she tapped her knuckles on the driver’s window. After a long pause, it rolled down, revealing the vampire, Deagan, who did not look at all happy to see her.
“Yes?” Deagan asked flatly.
“Get out.”
“Pardon me?”
“You heard me.”
“This is my vehicle.”
She stared at him and didn’t rein in her werewolf magic; she unfurled it, let it push her expectations and demands into the air. It wouldn’t manipulate strong-willed paranorms, but they would feel it. They would sense her power and know she wasn’t messing around.
Deagan rolled his eyes toward his master. Jared said nothing. With a mutter and an exasperated sigh, Deagan climbed out of the Porsche.
A beep sounded from the dash, signaling that the keys had left the vehicle. Deagan removed them from the pocket of his purple longcoat and held them out toward Jared. “Your chariot.”
Nora swiped the keys from his hand, dropped into the driver seat, and shut the door.
“Jared,” Deagan said, indignant.
Jared clasped the other vampire on the shoulder. “I will take care of her.”
“Do you mean Nora or Delilah?” Deagan called as his master circled around to the passenger side.
Jared sat and as soon as he reached for the door to close it, Nora slammed on the accelerator.
Momentum shut the door and pushed Jared back into the seat. The Porsche squealed out of the parking lot, cutting off a truck before she sped through a yellow light then took a sharp left turn.
“He will be upset if you damage Delilah. Not as upset as when you ripped the arm off his favorite coat but close.”
Nora smiled then accelerated onto the highway. The car responded to the slightest press of the pedal and the steering wheel felt good in her hands. It might be time for her to get a new car, something she could outrun the world in.
Preferably outrun it without a vampire sitting beside her.
“Where can I dump you?” she asked.
“Do you intend to steal Deagan’s car?”
“I haven’t decided yet. And this car isn’t a Delilah.”
“You prefer another name?”
She shook her head, not in response to his question but because she didn’t know what she was doing. She shouldn’t be breathing the same air as Arcuro’s henchman, shouldn’t be feeling his presence along her skin or imagining his lips on her body, her throat. She couldn’t even blame the latter on his power-laden aura. He was muting it, making it easier to treat him like any other person.
Or any other vampire.
She glanced at him. A vampire’s aura—that almost visible atmosphere that pulsed around and inside them—was similar to a dominant werewolf’s charisma. Both lured people in for the purpose of serving them, but the vampires took blood while werewolves took an individual’s loyalty.
“Relax,” Nora said.
“I am relaxed.”
“That’s up for debate, but that’s not what I meant. Your hold on your aura. Let it go.”
He stared at her. “Why?”
“I’m curious.”
“You want an excuse to sleep with me again.”
“What? No. I don’t need excuses to have sex.”
“You would be able to blame my aura for your weakness, not the fact that you want me.”
“Sex is not a weakness and—” She clenched her teeth together. “Never mind.”
She focused on the road.
“Very well,” Jared said. “You should pull over.”
“Really?” she asked, her tone dubious.
He said nothing. Just stared.
She shook her head at herself again but pulled to the side of the highway and put the Porsche into park. “Go for it, vampire.”
He drew in a breath then released his aura.
If she’d still been driving, she would have swerved off the road, his pull was that powerful. It was like the whole world had folded itself into his soul and pulsed there with the heat of the planet’s core. He was sin and magic intertwined. He smelled different, like honey and gold, and had she not been a dominant werewolf with a firm grip on who and what she was, she might have bowed at his feet. Even her wolf, who usually snapped and growled when in the presence of vampires, took notice. She calmed to the point where she came damn close to purring.
Jared muted his aura again, and it was like all the colors of creation had leached out of the universe. It took a moment to refocus, to see Jared as just a man again.
No, not a man. A vampire who could make kings bow before him.
She breathed deep, inhaling him into her lungs as she pulled back onto the road.
“You don’t have to mute yourself.” Her words came out softer than she’d intended. “I can handle you.”
His dark gaze remained on her. She felt it like a gentle touch, a brush of fingers across her skin. “Take the next exit.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read all the Nora and Jared scenes I've written so far, click here.
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